January,  1919 


Number  162 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

RECORD 


V 


f^^ 


V6 


vss; 


EDWARD  KIDDER  GRAHAM 
1876-1918 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Entered  as  Second-class  Matter  at  the  Poatofflce  at 

CHAPEL  HILL,  N.  0. 


LN 


EDWARD   KIDDER   GRAHAM 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

RECORD 


JANUARY,  1919 
NUMBER  162 


EDWARD  KIDDER  GRAHAM 
1876-1918 


RALEIGH 

Edwards  &  Beoughton  Printing  Compant 

1919 


Introductory  Note 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Faculty  of  the  University  following 
the  death  of  President  Graham,  it  was  unanimously  voted  that  a 
memorial  service  should  be  held  in  his  honor  and  a  committee  con- 
sisting of  Professors  H.  H.  Williams,  Archibald  Henderson,  George 
Howe,  A.  H.  Patterson,  and  W.  deB.  MacNider  was  appointed  to 
arrange  such  a  service. 

In  accord  with  this  plan,  services  were  held  in  Gerrard  Hall  on 
Sunday,  December  8th,  at  3  o'clock.  Professor  M.  H.  Stacy,  Chair- 
man of  the  Faculty,  presiding,  the  record  of  which  is  made  per- 
manent in  the  following  pages.  Dr.  J.  H.  Finley,  Commissioner  of 
Education  and  President  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  who  was  invited  to  speak  upon  "President  Graham  and 
American  Education,"  was  unable  to  be  present.  The  address  by 
Dr.  C.  Alphonso  Smith  was  read  by  Dr.  J.  G.  deR..  Hamilton,  Dr. 
Smith  being  detained  at  Lexington,  Va.,  by  the  death  of  his  nephew. 
It  has  also  seemed  appropriate  to  include  in  this  publication  a 
biographical  sketch  and  interpretation  of  President  Graham  by 
Professor  IS^.  "W.  Walker,  and  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Faculty, 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  the  North  Carolina  Teachers'  Assembly,  and 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  State. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Faculty,  an  additional  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  provide,  in  cooperation  with  a  com- 
mittee from  the  Board  of  Trustees,  for  a  permanent  memorial  or 
memorials  to  President  Graham.  The  plans  worked  out  by  this 
joint  committee  contemplate  the  early  publication  of  a  volume  of 
President  Graham's  addresses  and  essays,  and  the  erection  upon 
the  campus  by  means  of  contributions  from  alumni  and  friends 
of  a  memorial  Student  Activities  Building  or  Students'  Union, 

Louis  R.  Wilson,  Editor. 


Edward  Kidder  Graham 

INVOCATION 

Rev.  W.  D.  Moss,  Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 

We  rejoice,  O  God,  that  out  of  the  mists  and  shadows  of  the 
years,  out  of  the  tragedy  and  mystery  and  pain,  the  Christ-man, 
in  His  sweetness  and  sadness.  His  tenderness  and  strength,  has 
appeared,  through  whom  the  world  has  become  confident  of  its 
integrity  and  under  whose  reign  we  have  the  hope  that  maketh 
not  ashamed. 

We  rejoice  in  the  great  lives  of  other  days;  the  men  in  their 
strength  and  the  women  in  their  sympathy,  who,  having  wrought 
together  for  the  abundant  life  upon  earth,  have  left  us  an  undying 
legacy  of  progress.  For  those  who  have  preceded  us  upon  this 
soil.  Thy  children  of  undimmed  vision  when  clouds  and  darkness 
were  round  about  them,  who  toiled  to  the  laying  down  of  their 
lives  for  generations  yet  unborn,  we  render  unto  Thee  the  homage 
of  grateful  hearts.  For  our  leaders  in  this  our  beloved  State,  who 
in  rude,  crude  times  were  not  ashamed  of  the  poverty  of  oppor- 
tunity, and  who  rendered  a  service  not  only  for  their  day  but  for 
our  generation  and  for  us,  we  can  never  thank  Thee  as  we  should. 

We  lift  up  hands  of  reverent  praise  to  Thee,  O  God,  for  him, 
so  near  and  dear  to  us,  the  last  of  our  saviours  to  come  and  the  last 
to  go,  whose  life  we  do  now  commemorate.  In  his  life  may  we 
see  life.  As  clearly  and  steadily  he  looked  upon  the  face  of  destiny 
and  in  deft  manner  helped  us  toward  our  goal,  so  may  we  also  see 
the  end  from  the  beginning,  and  may  our  wills,  like  his,  be  strong 
to  bring  destiny  to  pass.  As  he  loved  the  little  children  on  the 
streets  and  they  had  unconsciously  the  sense  of  life's  worth  and 
safety  in  his  presence,  grant  us,  O  God,  to  wait  upon  the  slow  of 
step  and  to  be  friends  of  all  weak,  helpless  things.  As  looking  on 
the  limitations  of  others  he  went  beyond  their  bounds  of  time  and 
place  and  in  the  Christ-habit  lifted  all  their  littlenesses  into  the 
wholeness  of  the  great  Surrounding,  so  may  we  learn  to  see  and 
judge  in  the  largeness  of  his  sympathy.  As  without  guile  he  lived 
among  his  fellows,  grant  us  so  to  find  our  life  and  joy  and  deep 
content  in  Thee  that  at  last  wrong-doing  shall  be  distressful  to  us 
and  goodness  shall  be  enthroned  in  our  hearts  as  the  sun  in  its 


6  Edwakd  Kiddee  Graham 

ancient  and  wondrous  heaven.  As  he  met  his  own  unspeakable 
sorrow  as  a  child  of  God,  and  carried  it  with  him  not  as  a  tragedy 
but  as  a  sacrament,  we  pray  that  we  also  may  learn  to  welcome 
each  rebuff  that  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough,  each  present  we 
forsooth  would  fain  arrest;  and  so  through  our  defeats  and  griefs 
may  we  make  unhindered  progress.  As  in  his  civic  vision  he 
transcended  the  sectional  bounds  and  had  the  abiding  confidence 
that  the  truth  alone  could  live,  and  that  states  bound  in  the  unity 
of  truth  could  live  happily  together,  help  us,  our  God,  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  cosmic  mind  and  to  the  conviction  that  constitutional 
government  can  make  its  home  upon  the  earth.  As  he  loved  his 
own  State  and  gave  up  his  life  for  her  as  a  filial  son,  grant  us  to 
live  not  to  ourselves  but  to  this  mother  who  has  given  us  our  civic 
birth.  As  for  this  institution  which  he  served  he  had  a  large  pro- 
gram and  through  his  fostering  genius  this  campus  became  the 
people's  home,  we  pray  that  we  may  build  reverently  in  the  days 
before  us  so  that  our  Alma  Mater  may  function  normally  in  the 
body  politic.  As  for  its  youth  he  had  the  pastoral  care,  and  to 
them  he  has  left  the  legacy  of  an  undying  fineness  of  life,  grant 
that  they  may  receive  their  inheritance  in  dedication  and  seek 
to  perpetuate  their  love  for  him  in  an  institution  that  shall  be  the 
waking,  living  embodiment  of  his  dream. 

We  pray  that  with  the  sense  of  awe  we  may  ascend  this  mount 
of  worship.  As  we  lay  our  offering  upon  the  altar  may  the  smoke 
of  its  incense  be  fragrant,  and  may  that  strength  be  imparted  to 
us  all  that  shall  leave  this  hour  in  our  memory  a  sacred  portion 
of  time  and  this  spot  of  ground  a  sacred  place. 

So  may  Thy  kingdom  come  and  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  Heaven.    Amen. 


President  Graham  as  the  University  Knew  Him 

Professor  H.  H.  Williams 

To  present  President  Graham  as  the  University  knew  him  is  to 
tell  how  a  Charlotte  boy  comes  to  Chapel  Hill,  graduates,  and 
entering  the  Faculty  to  take  the  work  of  W.  C.  Smith,  whose  health 
had  failed,  within  four  years  is  professor  of  English,  and  within 
fifteen  years  is  placed  at  the  head  of  the  University.  It  is  to  see 
him  modestly,  simply,  swiftly  pass  into  leadership  of  those  who 
had  taught  him,  revealing  to  them  new  and  vital  lines  for  their 
own  work.  It  is  to  see  the  entire  University  rally  to  his  standard 
and  find  its  full  life  in  the  nooks  and  corners  of  the  State,  and  to 
see  the  State  rise  with  united  pride  and  enthusiasm  into  the  pos- 
session of  its  treasure. 

What  is  the  secret  of  this  story? 

First,  it  is  a  simple  life.  Simplicity  is  a  presence,  just  reality 
itself.  Pomp  is  the  exhibition  of  something  else,  of  material  cir- 
cumstance. There  can  be  no  simplicity  without  reality,  and  reality 
being  present  nothing  else  is  needed.  A  simple  life  is  not  an  exhi- 
bition, but  a  service;  not  an  adornment,  but  a  contribution. 

A  life  that  serves  must  have  substance,  a  certain  toughness  of 
fiber.  A  life  that  serves  a  university,  a  modem  university  with 
its  variety  and  largeness  must  have  uncommon  substance  and  fiber 
of  enduring  toughness.  It  is  agreed  that  President  Graham  served 
the  entire  University.  A.  M.  Coates  in  a  letter  to  me  says,  "I  was 
intimately  associated  with  him  in  university  work.  To  have  known 
him  I  count  one  of  the  great  experiences  of  my  life.  And  to  know 
that  such  a  man  has  lived  is  to  know  a  source  of  inspiration  that 
never  runs  dry." 

Such  a  simple  life  of  service  is  a  contribution.  A  contribution 
is  not  an  addition  to  some  department.  This  is  merely  adding  one 
more  electric  bulb  to  the  six  already  burning.  A  contribution  to 
university  life  is  to  establish  a  new  and  direct  connection  with  the 
power-house.  It  means  more  light,  more  strength,  more  fine  feeling 
for  the  entire  life  here. 

What  is  this  contribution  made  to  us  by  President  Graham  ?  It 
is   admitted  that  no  man  in  the   State  was  ahead  of  President 


8  Edward  Kidder  Graham 

Graham  in  comprehending  the  significance  of  this  vast  social  up- 
heaval, lie  passed  swiftly  into  the  councils  of  the  nation  and  his 
service  was  vital.  It  is  an  accepted  rule  in  philosophy  that  no  one 
can  comprehend  that  which  is  foreign  to  him.  Therefore  there 
was  that  in  President  Graham  that  gave  him  kinship  with  this 
great  world-event. 

Wars  are  the  birth-pangs  of  social  truth.  Great  wars  are  the 
birth-pangs  of  master  truths.  A  master  truth  means  a  new  type 
of  man.  The  truth  finds  itself  first  in  an  individual  and  then  radi- 
ates from  him  as  its  center.  In  this  way  Athens  gave  to  the  world 
the  scholar ;  Rome  gave  us  the  patriot ;  Italy  gave  us  the  church- 
man ;  and  England  gave  us  the  democrat.  In  this  great  day  History 
will  not  reverse  herself.  We  are  to  have  a  gift  that  is  new  and  of 
elemental  value.    A  new  type  of  man  is  to  appear. 

Let  me  quote  his  secretary,  Mr.  A.  M.  Coates,  again:  "It  was 
not  the  fact  of  his  leadership,  but  the  way  in  which  he  led,  that 
won  my  respect,  later  my  admiration,  and  finally  my  love.  He 
never  sought  to  dominate  or  overawe,  or  subdue  any  one,  but  to 
make  every  man  his  own  master.  He  wanted  no  servants,  no  sub- 
ordinates about  him.  He  never  told  a  man  to  do  this  or  that;  if 
he  had  to  tell  a  man  what  to  do  he  had  no  need  for  him.  He  wanted 
about  him  men  with  a  purpose,  with  a  work,  and  a  plan  of  their 
own.  And  it  was  in  this  broad,  free  way  that  he  was  making  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina  a  distinctive  institution.  The 
men  associated  with  him  felt,  not  that  they  were  working  for  him, 
but  that  he  was  giving  to  them  a  medium  and  opportunity  for 
doing  in  the  biggest  way  the  thing  they  wanted  to  do.  Around 
him  men  felt  free.  When  the  news  of  his  death  reached  me,  I  felt 
as  though  a  great  section  of  life  had  been  taken  away,  and  that 
part  of  my  own  was  gone.  He  was  not  only  the  truth,  but  the 
truth  triumphant.  In  him  all  that  was  good  seemed  to  find  a  way 
of  expression." 

This  is  an  uncommon  statement.  We  are  not  today  considering 
the  current  variety  of  college  official.  We  have  something  new. 
Let  us  proceed  in  our  study.  This  world-war  is  to  give  us  a  world- 
truth.  This  truth  means  a  new  type  of  man.  So  much  is  clear. 
Let  us  take  the  next  step  this  way:  Woodrow  Wilson  was  re- 
elected President  because  he  kept  us  out  of  the  war.    Then  he  led 


Univebsity  of  North  Carolina  9 

us  into  the  war,  asking  that  we  enter  fully,  reserving  nothing. 
Then  he  passed  swiftly  into  the  circle  of  the  constructive  leaders 
of  the  world.  This  is  remarkable  and  unusual.  What  is  the  ex- 
planation? To  me  President  Wilson  is  like  Kepler.  Kepler, 
standing  face  to  face  with  vast  physical  chaos,  said  law  is  supreme 
and  universal.  Even  the  remote  planet  is  not  beyond  the  reach  of 
law.  So  President  Wilson,  standing  face  to  face  with  social  chaos, 
says  law  is  supreme  and  calls  the  world  to  a  just  peace,  even  for 
those  who  say  in  word  and  action  there  is  no  justice. 

This  is  a  new  voice.  And  the  first  man  in  North  Carolina  to 
hear  this  voice  was  President  Graham.  He  caught  the  S.  O.  S. 
signal  from  the  high  tower  of  his  own  exalted  experience.  He  was 
already  illustrating  this  truth  in  the  life  here. 

North  Carolina  has  always  loved  justice  and  hated  iniquity. 
Therefore  the  entire  State  leaped  in  joy  to  the  side  of  her  Uni- 
versity President  and  bade  him  lead  on.  The  University  knew 
him  as  her  own.  He  was  a  University  boy.  He  knew  no  other 
source  of  strength.  He  loved  her  with  all  his  soul.  He  gave  him- 
self freely,  wholly,  joyously  that  she  might  be  strong  and  large 
and  abound  in  the  noblest  life.  We  all  saw  in  President  Graham 
the  University  a  living,  breathing  thing  of  life  and  power  and 
beauty.  Each  man  looked  upon  it  and  pronounced  it  good.  He 
was  our  best  self  calling  us  ouAvard.  He  was  our  high  hope  calling 
us  forward.    To  a  man  the  University  rallied  about  him. 

I  do  not  exaggerate.  To  me  President  Graham  was  a  new  type 
of  man.  He  had  fused  in  himself  the  antagonisms  that  divide 
men.  In  spite  of  you  he  would  see  the  truth  in  your  position  and 
agree  with  you.  He  could  not  be  induced  to  oppose  truth.  And  he 
could  not  be  drawn  into  the  support  of  the  wrong.  The  usual 
scheme  of  classification  did  not  apply  to  him. 

What  is  the  explanation  of  a  life  like  that?  For  ages  men  have 
rejoiced  to  be  classified.  And  he  who  was  not  of  the  class  was 
counted  as  lost.  Man  has  developed  two  systems  of  classification, 
two  philosophies  of  life.  The  one  judges  an  object  in  terms  of  an 
essence,  a  substance,  and  this  essence  or  substance  has  nothing  in 
common  with  the  object.  The  object  acquires  its  value  only  as 
it  is  related  to  this  essence.  This  is  an  ancient  way  of  looking  at 
objects.    It  is  known  as  idealism.    It  has  produced  a  civilization,  a 


10  Edwakd  Kiddek  Graham 

type  of  man,  an  attitude  towards  life.  Absolutism,  royalty,  aris- 
tocracy, despotism,  slavery  of  the  body  and  the  mind  are  fruits 
of  this  philosophy.  This  philosophy  is  widely  current  today  and 
the  type  of  man  it  produces  is  often  seen. 

The  other  philosophy  judges  an  object  in  terms  of  the  object. 
Something  in  the  structure  of  the  object,  or  in  its  action  must  be 
the  basis  of  any  classification.  In  this  philosophy  the  object  does 
not  acquire  value,  but  is  of  value  in  and  for  itself.  This  is  what 
is  often  termed  modern  philosophy.  It  is  called  scientific,  material- 
istic, pragmatic,  utilitarian.  This  philosophy  has  given  such  phe- 
nomena as  anarchy,  individualism,  liberty.  This  philosophy  has 
given  us  a  well-known  type  of  man.  It  is  widely  current  and  has 
a  medieval  certainty  of  its  position  and  method.  It  is  the  source 
of  deep  social  currents  that  make  for  change,  unrest,  revolution 
in  all  phases  of  life. 

These  philosophies  are  in  deep  antagonism.  They  think  them- 
selves mutually  exclusive.  Every  man  you  know  belongs  to  one 
of  these  types.  And  he  is  quite  sure  if  he  is  one  he  cannot  be  the 
other.  And  like  his  prototype  in  Jerusalem,  he  thanks  God  he  is 
not  like  the  poor  publican. 

Manifestly  these  men  are  in  error.  There  is  a  profound  truth 
in  each  of  these  philosophies.  Once  before  man  was  divided  into 
two  hostile  camps.  And  then  came  the  master-word:  ''Render 
unto  Cffisar  the  things  that  are  Csesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things 
that  are  God's.  Neither  circumcision  nor  uncircumcision,  but  a 
new  creature."    And  civilization  went  forward  along  this  new  way. 

So,  my  friends,  we  have  heard  a  new  voice  calling  us  out  of  our 
narrowness  into  the  wide  life  of  truth;  out  of  our  jealousies  into 
the  sweetness  of  righteousness;  out  of  our  sectarianism  into  the 
perfect  life. 

Once  more  the  good  life  is  to  fuse  the  antagonisms  of  men.  The 
philosophy  of  objectivity  and  subjectivity,  of  idealism  and  mate- 
rialism, of  theology  and  science  come  peacefully  into  the  spiritual 
life.  The  new  type  of  man  is  spirit.  And  I  understand  by  spirit 
that  which  is  the  source  of  its  own  standards,  the  strength  of  its 
own  action,  and  the  wisdom  of  its  own  creeds.  The  spiritual  life 
knows  no  fear  because  it  is  itself  the  source  of  strength.  It  knows 
not  slavery  because  it  is  itself  reality. 


Univeksity  of  North  Carolina  11 

Such  was  the  life  of  our  President.  Do  you  not  now  understand 
why  he  stirred  the  soul  of  the  University  boy  to  its  depths  ?  At  the 
bar,  in  the  school,  in  business,  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  trenches  of 
heroic  and  immortal  France  the  Chapel  Hill  boy  was  proudly  con- 
ficious  of  the  leadership  of  our  President. 

Do  you  wonder  that  we  loved  him?  Do  you  wonder  that  we 
this  day  pray  that  his  spirit  may  live  forever  in  this  good  place  ? 


President  Graham's  Work  as  the  State  Saw  It 

R.  D.  W.  Connor,  President  of  the  Alumni  Association  and  Secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University 

A  little  more  than  three  years  ago  some  of  us  here  today  heard 
President  Graham,  in  the  opening  words  of  his  Inaugural  Address, 
appraise  the  contribution  of  each  of  his  recent  predecessors  to  the 
life  of  this  ancient  University.  As  our  hearts  and  minds  responded 
sympathetically  to  his  happily  chosen  phrases,  spoken  with  such 
evident  sincerity  and  applied  with  such  impartial  justice,  we  little 
thought  that  we  should  so  soon  be  called  upon  to  make  a  similar 
estimate  of  his  work.  The  task  is  not  easy,  not  only  because  our 
hearts  are  still  so  oppressed  with  a  sense  of  personal  grief  that  we 
cannot  separate  the  work  from  the  man  and  friend  whom  we  have 
lost,  but  also  because  just  as  the  man  was  cut  down  in  his  prime 
so  his  work  was  cut  short  in  its  inception  before  it  had  reached 
fruition.  Nevertheless,  it  was  conceived  in  hopes  that  were  so 
confident,  and  carried  forward  with  such  unfaltering  faith  that  it 
stands  out  clearly  and  unmistakably  as  marking  the  beginning  of 
a  distinct  epoch  in  the  evolution  of  the  life  of  this  institution.  I 
speak  of  it  as  an  evolution  because  President  Graham  was  too 
wise  a  builder  to  attempt  to  erect  a  structure  without  planting  it 
broad-based  upon  the  foundations  laid  by  his  predecessors.  But 
he  did  not  mistake  the  foundations  for  the  building.  As  he  himself 
phrased  it  in  his  last  official  report,  "The  days  ahead  of  us  grow 
out  of  the  days  that  are  gone,  but  in  every  phase  of  human  activity 
that  a  university  touches  they  are  new  days  with  a  new  and  broader 
vision."  In  building  his  structure  for  service  in  this  new  day  of 
broader  vision  which  he  saw  so  clearly  while  he  discarded  the 
irrelevancies  of  the  past,  he  built  upon  "the  rich  inheritance  of 
spirit  that  has  come  down  to  us." 

It  is  my  privilege  today  to  speak  very  briefly  of  the  attitude  of 
the  State  toward  his  work.  I  am  not  asked  to  speak  of  its  attitude 
toward  the  man — its  admiration  of  his  intellect,  its  reliance  upon 
his  judgment,  its  confidence  in  his  sincerity,  its  affection  for  his 
rarely  sympathetic  human  spirit,  but  to  speak  impersonally  of  his 
work  as  the  State  saw  it.     To  do  this  intelligently  we  must  first 


University  of  North  Carolina  13 

try  to  see  his  work  as  he  saw  it  himself,  to  understand  his  concep- 
tion of  the  instrument  he  employed,  and  to  discover  the  goal  he 
sought  to  reach. 

I  shall,  therefore,  first  of  all,  try  briefly  and  as  far  as  possible 
in  his  own  phraseology,  to  state  his  conception  of  the  modern  state 
university  in  the  modern  democratic  state.  He  conceived  of 'it  not 
as  a  thing  apart  from  the  life  of  present-day  democracy  but  as  its 
very  heart  functioning  in  every  vital  phase  of  its  life.  As  such 
there  is  no  concern  of  the  modern  state  that  is  not  also  the  imme- 
diate concern  of  the  state  university.  "The  state  university,"  he 
said,  "is  the  instrument  of  democracy  for  realizing  all  the  high 
and  healthful  aspirations  of  the  State."  Its  function  is  not  only 
to  search  for  truth,  but  to  set  truth  to  work  in  the  world  of  living 
men  and  things,  to  liberate  the  spirit  of  men  from  the  tyranny  of 
time  and  place,  not  by  running  away  from  the  world,  but  by  master- 
ing it.  The  democratic  state  can  never  realize  its  highest  and 
most  healthful  aspirations  until  all  the  forces  in  it  that  make  for  a 
fuller,  richer,  and  freer  life,  whether  in  education  and  in  scholar- 
ship, in  science  and  in  labor,  in  religion  and  in  philosophy,  in 
social  relations  and  in  politics,  in  industry  and  in  agriculture,  are 
thus  liberated  and  guided  by  "a  confident  and  competent  leader- 
ship" inspired  by  a  passion  for  truth.  This  "confident  and  com- 
petent leadership,"  President  Graham  conceived  it  to  be  the  func- 
tion of  the  state  university  to  furnish,  not  in  the  spirit  of  boastful 
and  selfish  ambition,  but  in  the  spirit  of  sympathetic  and  unselfish 
service. 

His  conception  of  the  function  of  the  state  university  in  general, 
President  Graham  sought  to  make  concrete  in  the  University  of 
North  Carolina.  Different  universities,  he  declared,  can  show 
different  reasons  for  their  existence  and  for  being  what  they  are, 
for  all  have  come  into  being  in  response  to  certain  needs  of  their 
time  and  place,  and  though  all  may  be  inspired  by  a  purpose  single 
in  its  nature,  the  manifestations  of  this  purpose  must  from  the 
very  nature  of  these  institutions^  be  as  diverse  as  are  the  diverse 
needs  of  their  different  constituencies.  The  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina is  the  constituent  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  its 
needs  and  aspirations  are,  therefore,  this  University's  chief  con- 
cerns.    Nobody  recognized  more  clearly  than  President  Graham 


14  Edward  Kidder  Graham 

that  truth  is  not  a  local  matter  and  that  the  true  standards  of  life 
are  not  local  but  world  standards,  but  what  he  did  see,  perhaps 
more  clearly  than  any  of  us,  is  that  the  universal  truth  which  this 
University  should  seek  cannot  become  vitalized  for  us  except 
through  service  in  interpreting  and  solving  our  own  peculiar  prob- 
lems. "What  the  University  sees,"  he  said,  "is,  that  no  matter 
how  disinterested  and  universal  the  truth  it  seeks,  North  Carolina 
is  the  immediate  medium  of  its  interpretation."  He  saw  the  Uni- 
versity's essential  problem,  therefore,  as  a  question  of  the  intensity, 
purity,  and  radiating  power  of  its  inner  spirit  and  its  creative  and 
curative  power  in  the  particular  civilization  it  serves.  Since  it  is 
out  of  its  creative  and  constructive  nature  as  the  State's  institution 
of  liberal  culture  and  higher  learning  that  its  peculiar  value  in  the 
life  of  the  State  grows,  its  chief  function  is  to  put  its  spirit  and 
its  knowledge  into  the  active  service  of  the  living  democratic  state. 

The  response  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  to  this  conception 
of  the  function  of  the  University  in  the  life  of  the  State  was  imme- 
diate and  sympathetic;  indeed,  they  seemed  to  feel  that  Pi'esident 
Graham  had  but  made  articulate  the  ideals  they  had  long  cherished, 
and  when  he  came  to  translate  those  ideals  into  action,  the  forces 
of  constructive  democracy  throughout  the  State  felt  the  inspiration 
of  a  new  and  stimulating  spirit  radiating  from  this  fine  old  insti- 
tution. It  is  needless  for  me  to  say,  I  am  sure,  that  President 
Graham  never  for  an  instant  thought  of  this  work  as  all  his  own, 
nor  that  the  State  understands  it  to  be  such.  What  the  State  does 
understand  is  that  it  is  the  result  of  his  conception  of  the  function 
of  the  modern  state  university,  and  that  behind  the  translation  of 
this  conception  into  realities,  and  assuring  its  success,  lies  the 
spirit  of  active  and  healthy  cooperation  which  his  leadership  called 
forth  from  faculty  and  officers,  from  students  and  alumni,  from 
trustees  and  people,  and  from  every  element  in  the  University's 
life.  This  almost  universal  spirit  of  cooperation  is  indeed  the  best 
evidence  not  only  of  the  State's  attitude  toward  his  work  but  of 
its  confidence  in  his  genius  for  high  and  splendid  leadership. 

In  the  minds  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  two  features  of 
his  work  stand  out  with  peculiar  distinctness.  They  are  of  course 
the  evolution  which  has  taken  place  in  the  spirit  of  the  inner  life 


University  of  North  Carolina  15 

of  the  University  and  the  broadening  of  its  contact  with  the  life 
of  the  State  through  the  development  of  its  extension  service. 

President  Graham's  conception  of  the  function  of  the  University 
assumed  of  course  that  the  spirit  of  its  organized  life  would  be  in 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  modern  democracy  and  that  the  Uni- 
versity would  be  thoroughly  imbued  with  that  ideal  of  service 
which  alone  would  enable  it  to  furnish  the  State  with  "confident 
and  competent  leadership."  He  therefore  sought  these  ends  not 
by  relaxing  the  bonds  of  discipline,  nor  by  lowering  the  standards 
of  scholarship,  but  by  making  the  one  an  expression  of  self-control 
and  self-direction,  and  by  putting  the  other  at  work  in  the  service 
of  humanity.  Thus  the  center  of  administrative  control  in  matters 
of  student  conduct  and  attitude  toward  university  duties  passed 
from  faculty  to  student-body,  negative  policies  of  government  gave 
place  to  affirmative  policies,  and  fearsome  prodding  from  without 
yielded  to  the  promptings  of  the  spirit  from  within.  There  were 
those  among  us  who,  seeing  only  the  dangers  of  this  course,  hesi- 
tated to  follow  him  in  it.  President  Graham  too  saw  the  dangers, 
none  more  clearly  than  he,  but  beyond  the  dangers  he  saw  with 
unclouded  vision  a  goal  worth  fighting  for.  "Every  big  human 
policy  is  dangerous,"  he  said,  "for  the  reason  that  it  is  a  human 
and  not  a  mechanical  policy."  The  teet  of  every  such  policy  is 
whether  it  works,  and  whether  it  works  depends  upon  the  nature 
of  the  material  it  works  with.  President  Graham's  whole  concep- 
tion of  the  function  of  the  state  university  as  applied  to  this  par- 
ticular University  was  founded  in  faith  in  the  nature  of  the  mate- 
rial he  dealt  with,  and  the  results  justified  his  faith.  After  a  fair 
trial  of  "these  new  standards  of  college  life  and  conduct,"  he  was 
able  to  report  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  to  the  State  that  puni- 
tive discipline  for  deliberate  misconduct  had  practically  disap- 
peared while  the  attitude  of  the  student-body  toward  University 
duties  was  such  that  penalties  for  failure  to  meet  such  duties  were 
no  longer  necessary. 

A  similar  response  Avas  made  to  President  Graham's  efforts  to 
interpret  scholarship  in  terms  of  service.  At  first  there  were 
scholars  among  us  whose  first  impulse  was  to  protest  against 
the  indignity  done  to  scholarship  and  men  of  affairs  who  could 
scarcely  conceal  their  contempt  for  the  practical  value  of  such 


16  Edward  Kidder  Graham 

service  as  scholarship  had  to  offer.  But  President  Graham  could 
see  no  indignity  to  scholarship  in  making  it  serviceahle,  and  he  was 
convinced  that  modern  democracy  in  all  its  various  phases  had 
much  to  gain  from  contact  with  the  spirit  and  methods  of  scholar- 
ship. He  therefore  insisted  that  scholars  should  "emphasize  the 
fact  that  research  and  classical  culture  rightly  interpreted  are  as 
deeply  and  completely  service  as  any  vocational  service,"  but  he 
would  also  have  them  "consider  their  service  too  precious  to  be 
confined  in  cloisters  and  sufficiently  robust  to  inhabit  the  walks  of 
men" ;  while  he  sought  to  impress  upon  men  of  affairs  that  though 
the  state  university  "regards  any  practical  need  as  an  opportunity 
for  service,"  its  still  larger  service  is  in  so  perfecting  the  relations 
of  work  to  life  that  any  worthy  industry  may  become  "a  liberal 
vocation  in  saving  the  man  and  all  of  his  higher  faculties,  not 
from  business,  but  through  business."  Thus  as  the  people  of  ITorth 
Carolina  saw  it  he  dignified  scholarship  by  putting  it  to  work  in  the 
service  of  mankind,  and  he  strengthened  the  forces  of  constructive 
democracy  by  impregnating  them  with  a  passion  for  truth  and  the 
spirit  and  methods  of  truth-seeking. 

It  is  in  this  light,  I  think,  that  the  State  now  understands  the 
work  of  the  University.  It  sees  with  President  Graham  that  teach- 
ing is  the  "main  and  special  function  of  the  University,"  not  be- 
cause of  the  personal  benefits  conferred  upon  the  taught,  but  "be- 
cause the  most  direct  and  deepest  way  of  reaching  the  sources  of 
state  life  is  through  organized  instruction  of  the  youth  of  the 
State."  The  University  therefore  necessarily  concentrates  its 
strength  on  its  own  campus,  but  it  has  led  the  State  to  see  that  its 
campus  is  not  its  only  field  of  service  and  the  instruction  of  a  group 
of  selected  youth  its  only  mission.  Its  campus  is  the  State,  its 
mission,  service  to  all  the  people.  Through  its  classrooms  and 
laboratories,  its  libraries  and  its  publications,  its  student  club- 
studies  and  its  public  lectures,  its  summer  school  and  correspond- 
ence courses,  its  institutes  and  conferences,  the  University  under- 
takes to  place  all  its  varied  agencies  of  scholarship  at  the  service 
of  the  State  by  applying  universal  truths  and  world  standards  to 
the  State's  peculiar  problems  of  business,  agriculture,  commerce, 
education,  health,  and  religion. 


University  of  North  Carolina  17 

So  the  State,  I  think,  understands  his  work,  and  understanding 
approves.  It  has  come  to  realize  in  a  new  and  more  intimate  way 
than  ever  before  that  its  University  is  its  most  effective  instrument 
for  realizing  its  higher  needs  and  ideals — not  those  merely  of  its 
more  fortunate  classes,  but  the  higher  needs  and  ideals  of  all  its 
people.  The  State  also  realizes,  I  think,  that  this  new  conception 
of  its  University  brings  with  it  new  and  greater  obligations.  There 
have  always  been  those  among  us  who  felt  that  the  State  has  too 
greatly  under-estimated  its  obligations  to  the  University.  Presi- 
dent Graham  taught  us  a  different  point  of  view.  He  was  not  con- 
cerned with  the  obligations  of  the  State  to  the  University,  but  he 
was  deeply  concerned  with  the  obligations  of  the  University  to  the 
State.  He  taught  the  University  to  see  that  its  function  is  "to 
serve  as  fully  as  possible  the  higher  needs  of  all  the  people,"  and 
to  interpret  this  service  "not  as  thinly  stretching  out  its  resources 
to  the  State  boundaries  for  purposes  of  protective  popularity,  nor 
as  carrying  down  to  those  without  the  castle  gates  broken  bits  of 
learning;  but  as  the  radiating  power  of  a  new  passion,  carrying 
in  natural  circulation  the  unified  culture  of  the  race  to  all  parts 
of  the  body  politic,"  and  to  think  of  this  service  "not  as  sacrifice, 
but  as  life,  the  normal  functioning  of  life  as  fruitful  and  funda- 
mental as  the  relation  between  the  vine  and  the  branches."  On  the 
other  hand,  he  brought  the  State  to  understand  that  the  functions, 
problems,  and  purposes  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina  are 
not  merely  those  that  are  normal  in  its  nature  as  an  institution 
of  learning,  but  in  its  nature  as  a  representative  state  institution 
of  North  Carolina,  and  as  such  they  must  automatically  multiply 
under  the  pressure  of  the  ever-quickening  life  of  the  State  and  ita 
rapidly  increasing  material  strength. 

It  never  occurred  to  him  but  that  if  the  University  fully  met  its 
obligations  to  the  State,  the  State  would  respond  in  kind.  "What 
it  [the  University]  asks,  and  all  that  it  asks,"  he  said  "is  not  for 
itself,  but  as  the  common  instrument  of  all  men  concerned  in  ad- 
vancing the  general  welfare  and  the  more  abundant  life  of  the 
State.  For  this  reason  it  confidently  asks,  in  the  first  place,  for 
the  sympathetic  understanding  and  interest  of  all  those  who  work 


18  Edwakd  Kidder  Graham 

with  a  decent  and  reasonable  regard  for  the  common  good,  and  it 
asks  for  such  support  as  will  enable  it  worthily  to  assist  in  the 
solution  of  the  common  problem.  If  it  conceives  of  its  task  as  one 
that  calls  for  great  equipment,  it  is  not  because  it  is  blind  to  certain 
limitations,  but  because  it  sees  beyond  limitations  to  latent  powers 
just  as  actual  and  far  more  real;  and  finally,  and  beyond  all  this, 
because  it  has  sure,  supreme,  and  practical  faith  in  the  greatness 
of  the  State  whose  representative  it  is." 

Thus  he  magnified  the  function  of  the  University  in  the  life  of 
the  State  because  in  so  doing  he  magnified  the  State;  and  the 
greatness  of  his  vision  caught  the  imagination  of  the  State  and 
awaked  in  it  a  realization  of  its  latent  powers  and  possibilities. 
He  asked  the  State  to  think  greatly  of  itself,  and  to  this  call  too 
it  was  beginning  to  respond  with  a  stimulating  pride  in  the  new 
sensation.  None  of  us  who  were  present  will  ever  forget  the  in- 
tense interest  that  his  appearance  before  the  appropriations  com- 
mittee of  the  last  General  Assembly  attracted,  nor  the  quick  and 
inspiriting  response  which  the  committee,  then  the  General  As- 
sembly, and  finally  the  whole  State  made  to  his  statement  of  the 
function,  not  of  the  University  merely,  but  of  Education  in  all 
its  grades  and  through  all  its  agencies,  in  the  life  of  the  democratic 
state.  I  believe  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  to  that  statement 
and  to  the  response  which  it  called  forth  may  be  directly  traced 
the  inspiring  and  hopeful  efforts  which  a  great  Christian  Church 
is  today  making  in  North  Carolina  to  secure  for  its  educational 
institutions  that  adequate  financial  support  necessary  to  enable 
them  to  perform  the  service  for  God  and  country  which  the  imme- 
diate future  holds  out  to  them.  On  the  part  of  the  State  that  re- 
sponse took  the  form  not  only  of  liberal  increases  in  the  main- 
tenance funds  and  in  provisions  for  permanent  improvements  for 
all  of  the  State's  educational  institutions,  but  what  was  far  more 
significant,  it  took  the  form  of  complete  acquiescence  in  his  con- 
ception of  the  place  of  education  in  the  polity  of  the  State,  ac- 
ceptance of  the  new  and  greater  obligations  resulting  from  it,  and 
the  reversal  of  the  State's  century-old  financial  policy  which  had 
been  founded  on  self-depreciation,  narrowness  of  vision,  and  tim- 
idity, in  favor  of  a  more  encouraging  policy  founded,  in  the  words 


University  of  North  Carolina  19 

of  President  Graham,  "on  the  courage  of  investment,  the  courage 
of  leadership,  the  courage  of  growth  toward  greatness."  This  new 
policy,  fixed  now,  if  we  who  are  left  prove  worthy  of  our  heritage 
from  him,  as  the  settled  policy  of  the  State,  is  the  best  possible 
evidence  of  the  attitude  of  the  State  toward  the  work  of  the  cour- 
ageous, sympathetic,  clear-visioned  young  leader  whose  death  every 
forward-looking  man  in  the  State  deplores  as  a  public  calamity. 


President  Graham  and  the  Nation 

Dr.  C.  Alphonso  Smith,  Head  of  the  Department  of  English  in  the 
United  States  Naval  Academy 

Two  weeks  after  the  election  of  Edward  Kidder  Graham  to  the 
presidency  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  a  little  archduke 
was  shot  in  a  little  town  of  the  little  state  known  as  Bosnia.  Noth- 
ing seemed  more  remote  from  our  interests  than  that  event.  But 
we  Avere  mistaken.  That  event  was  to  change  the  history  of  the 
world.  It  meant  among  other  things  that  Graham's  incumbency 
of  office  was  to  begin  in  a  world  war,  to  be  shaped  and  conditioned 
by  a  world  war,  to  end  in  a  world  war,  and  to  find  its  ultimate 
plaudit  and  appraisal  in  an  era  made  over  by  a  world  war.  As  the 
pistol  of  the  archduke's  assassin  was  fired  two  weeks  after  Graham's 
election,  so  two  weeks  after  his  death  came  the  tidings  of  the  great 
victory.  "Everything  for  which  America  has  fought,"  wrote  the 
President,  "has  been  accomplished."  The  world  had  moved  into 
a  new  day. 

With  the  news  there  came  to  me  at  first  a  sense  of  keen  regret 
that  Graham  was  not  here  to  see  the  new  age  which  he  had  labored 
so  valiantly  to  usher  in.  But  he  saw  it  in  confident  vision;  he 
joyed  in  its  approach;  he  knew  that  he  was  himself  a  part  of  it; 
he  was  keeping  spiritual  step  even  from  his  dying  bed  with  that 
band  of  resolute  Americans  who  were  marching  up  the  Meuse- 
Argonne  heights  and  who,  as  his  eyes  closed  in  death,  shook  out 
the  banners  of  a  new  faith  over  a  soil  forever  redeemed.  But 
Graham's  eyes  looked  further.  A  year  ago  he  wrote :  "Education- 
ally the  decade  that  follows  the  war  will  be,  I  believe,  the  richest 
and  most  fruitful  in  the  Nation's  history."  These  are  the  words 
of  one  who  saw  not  only  to  the  end  but  beyond  the  end. 

A  stranger  meeting  Graham  for  the  first  time  would  be  struck 
by  the  contrast  between  the  flower-like  frailty  of  his  physique  and 
the  reasoned  solidity  of  his  convictions.  He  seemed  to  me  never 
to  have  been  immature  in  his  thinking.  There  was  always  a  sug- 
gestion of  restrained  boyishness  in  his  manner,  but  if  you  talked 
with  him  about  men  and  things  and  policies  you  found  at  once 
that  his  profession  was  that  of  the  thinker.     During  the  seven 


TIniveesity  of  North  Cakolina  21 

years  that  I  was  privileged  to  be  his  colleague  in  the  Department 
of  English  here — years  to  which  I  recur  often  for  renewal  of  high 
feeling  and  fellowship — I  learned  to  prize  his  judgment  beyond 
that  of  any  one  of  equal  years  who  has  ever  come  within  the  com- 
pass of  my  acquaintance.  One  characteristic  was  very  marked. 
He  could  not  be  carried  away  by  mere  volume  or  numbers.  Men 
and  measures  that  seemed  borne  on  a  tidal  wave  always  gave 
Graham  pause.  He  was  listening  to  hear  the  voice  of  inner  con- 
viction. He  was  waiting  for  the  crystallization  of  those  habits  and 
processes  of  thought  that  he  had  learned  to  trust.  This  not  only 
gave  maturity  to  his  thinking  but  added  an  edge  of  steel  to  his 
attack  or  defense  when  he  entered  the  lists  of  public  or  social 
debate. 

This  edge  he  owed  only  in  part  to  books.  He  was  a  bookman 
but  a  bookman  without  bookishness.  Books  ministered  to  him 
but  they  did  not  master  him.  If  one  of  his  students  pursued  an 
individual  trail  through  books,  knew  what  he  wanted,  dumped  into 
the  discard  unceremoniously  what  he  did  not  want,  and  appraised 
both  books  and  writers  solely  by  their  ability  to  speed  him  on  his 
quest,  such  a  student  was  sure  to  find  hearty  and  approving  sym- 
pathy in  Graham.  However  unconventional  the  student's  verdicts 
on  the  masters  might  be,  Graham  recognized  in  him  an  honesty 
of  view  and  a  sincerity  of  purpose  that  would  eventually  bring  him 
to  the  light.  The  personality  of  the  student,  in  other  words,  was 
of  far  more  concern  to  Graham  than  any  dictum  of  the  author 
studied.  He  himself  took  orders  from  none  of  the  masters  of  the 
past ;  but  he  sat  at  feast  with  them,  he  companied  w4th  them,  and 
his  style  is  marked  by  that  ultimate  distinction  of  texture,  that 
final  alchemy  of  phrase,  that  comes,  if  it  comes  at  all,  never  through 
addition  from  without  but  always  by  extension  from  within. 

In  his  approach  to  the  larger  problems  that  were  thrust  upon 
him,  problems  that  were  to  give  Graham  a  distinction  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  his  native  State,  he  displayed  two  qualities  that  do 
not  often  go  together.  Military  critics  make  an  interesting  dis- 
tinction between  strategy  and  tactics.  Both  strategy  and  tactics 
are  means  to  an  end ;  they  converge  to  the  main  objective.  But 
strategy  converges  at  a  distance,  tactics  at  close  quarters.  Strategy 
is  what  you  plan  to  do  before  actual  contact  with  the  enemy ;  tactics 


22  Edward  Kidder  Graham 

are  what  you  actually  do.  Strategy  demands  intellect  and  vision ; 
tactics  demand  resourcefulness  and  initiative.  They  both  demand 
unyielding  tenacity  of  purpose  and  an  unobstructed  view  of  the 
objective. 

Graham's  four  years  of  administration  seem  to  me  a  sort  of 
capital  A.  The  apex  is  his  objective  and  he  moves  upward  to  it 
between  the  converging  sides.  His  plans  and  ideals  are  clear  and 
unhindered  till  he  reaches  the  transverse  bar.  This  bar  is  the 
tide  of  war  that  on  April  6,  1917,  swept  our  country  into  the  vast 
maelstrom.  Here  quick  adaptations  must  be  made.  Sarajevo  has 
touched  Chapel  Hill.  Strategy  must  now  blend  with  tactics.  Old 
policies  must  be  instantly  scrapped  and  the  bare  big  facts  resolutely 
interpreted  and  unflinchingly  faced.  But  with  Graham  there  was 
no  hesitation  and  no  fumbling.  The  sequent  years  alone  will  show 
whether  he  was  greater  before  April  6th  or  after ;  whether  he  will 
live  longer  as  strategist  or  tactician.  But  he  was  masterly  as  both. 
His  inaugural  of  April  21,  1915,  shows  him  untouched  by  war  but 
moving  forward  to  his  objective  with  a  vision  and  resoluteness  that 
in  two  years  had  transformed  the  oldest  State  University  into  the 
youngest;  his  presidential  report  of  December,  1917,  records  an 
achievement  in  efficient  adaptability  that  served  as  an  immediate 
summons  to  national  service.  He  was  made  a  member  of  the  Edu- 
cational Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  a  trustee 
of  the  American  University  Union  in  Europe,  a  member  of  the 
International  Committee  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  director  of  the 
Students'  Army  Corps  of  the  South  Atlantic  States. 

But  Graham's  real  significance  as  an  educator  is  to  be  sought 
not  in  the  positions  held  but  rather  in  the  central  objective  that 
he  kept  ever  before  him.  It  was  his  pillar  of  cloud  by  day,  his 
pillar  of  fire  by  night.  "War  did  not  change  his  goal;  it  only 
deepened  the  passionate  intensity  with  which  he  dedicated  himself 
to  its  achievement.  His  was  not  one  of  the  little  attainable  ideals 
that  masquerade  as  ladders  but  prove  to  be  only  lounges.  It  was  a 
goal  so  noble  and  so  broadly  conceived  that  a  long  life  of  effort 
would  not  have  sufficed  to  compass  it. 

He  has  phrased  it  in  many  speeches  but  the  central  conception 
is  always  the  same.  In  his  inaugural  here  and  in  his  address  pre- 
pared for  the  Johns  Hopkins  Commencement  last  June  the  same 


Universitt  of  ISToRTH  Carolina  23 

stimulant  thouglit  calls  to  us.  Both  morning  song  and  evening 
song,  though  the  words  differ,  are  set  to  the  same  music,  the  march 
music  of  his  life.  His  earlier  phrasing  runs  thus :  "The  state  uni- 
versity is  more  than  an  aggregate  of  parts.  As  a  university  it  is 
a  living  unity,  an  organism  at  the  heart  of  the  living  democratic 
state,  interpreting  its  life,  not  by  parts,  or  by  a  summary  of  parts, 
but  wholly — fusing  the  functions  of  brain  and  heart  and  hand 
under  the  power  of  the  immortal  spirit  of  democracy  as  it  moves 
in  present  American  life  to  the  complete  realization  of  what  men 
really  want.  The  real  measure  of  its  power  will  be  whether,  dis- 
carding the  irrelevancies  of  the  past  and  present,  it  can  focus,  fuse, 
and  interpret  their  eternal  verities  and  radiate  them  from  a  new 
organic  center  of  culture.  This,  let  it  tentatively  define  as  achieve- 
ment touched  by  fine  feeling — as  truth  alive  and  at  work  in  the 
world  of  men  and  things." 

This  conception  of  his  task  shows  that  Graham  opposed  with 
all  his  might  the  two  views  of  Americanism  that  have  so  long 
trailed  their  dreary  lengths  across  the  pages  of  our  history. 
Americanism  is  not  a  compound  of  foreign  isms  plus  our  own; 
it  is  not  a  house  of  many  compartments  to  which  we  con- 
tribute nothing  but  roof ;  it  is  not  a  mosaic  of  other  na- 
tions with  our  varnish  giving  a  specious  unity  to  the  whole.  Nor 
is  Americanism  the  product  of  a  vast  melting-pot,  with  nothing 
distinctive  except  the  dull  impersonal  average  that  is  ladled  out. 
No,  Americanism  is  not  a  thing  of  parts,  whether  the  parts  touch 
without  adhering  or  whether  they  lose  their  own  being  in  a  gross 
and  engulfing  whole.  Americanism  is  a  spirit,  a  life,  a  transforma- 
tion. It  has  its  multiple  parts,  but  multiplicity  wakes  to  new  life 
in  unity.  It  has  its  fusions,  but  these  do  not  give  a  lower  level  as 
their  resultant;  they  lift  the  whole  to  a  higher  level  because  the 
fusion  is  not  of  matter  with  matter  but  of  spirit  with  spirit. 

It  was  because  Graham  saw  and  felt  these  things,  it  Avas  because 
he  blended  them  in  his  own  inimitable  personality,  that  he  lifted 
this  ancient  foundation  into  newness  of  service  and  placed  both 
itself  and  its  president  where  neither  of  them  could  be  overlooked 
in  any  national  survey  of  educational  achievement  or  of  construc- 
tive leadership.  He  has  not  gone;  he  but  watches  from  some 
serener  height  the  triumphant  march  of  the  institution  which  he 
loved  with  every  fiber  of  his  being. 


24  Edwakd  Kidder  Gkaham 

It  seems  but  yesterday  that  we  heard  him  say  of  Dr.  Battle: 
"Age  finds  him  with  a  heart  so  young  and  a  life  so  full  of  affection 
and  praise  that  he  is  the  witness  of  his  own  immortality."  It  was 
not  left  to  Ed,  Graham  to  be  the  witness  here  of  his  own  immor- 
tality. But  he  is  as  safely  immortal  as  if  a  hundred  years  had 
laid  its  blended  offerings  of  privilege  and  opportunity  at  his  feet. 
He  lives  in  the  memories  of  those  who  knew  him  and  will  forever 
live  in  the  heart  of  a  university  which  he  served  briefly  but  im- 

perishably. 

In  small  proportions  we  just  beauties  see, 
And  in  short  measures  life  may  perfect  be. 

TELEGRAM  FROM  DR.  JOHN  FINLEY 

Commissioner  of  Education  of  the  State  of  New  York 

I  wish  I  could  come  in  person  to  testify  of  my  admiration  and 
affectionate  regard  for  the  noble  and  gentle-souled  Edward  Graham 
who  is  no  longer  visibly  present  in  the  places  dearest  to  him  on 
this  earth.  He  has  multiplied  his  days  into  an  eternity  by  the 
infinite  that  was  in  him.  The  nation  is  indebted  to  the  University 
for  the  gift  of  his  service.  May  his  dreams  and  plans  for  the 
University,  of  which  he  spoke  to  me  when  we  last  met,  be  realized. 

THE  CLOSING  PRATER 

Rev.  W.  D.  Moss 

Lend  us  grace,  O  God,  to  make  our  way  forward  from  this  time 
and  place.  May  our  lives  be  so  enriched  by  what  we  have  here  felt 
and  done  that  in  every  time  of  weakness  and  depression  that  shall 
befall  us  we  shall  have  resources  of  memory  on  which  courageously 
to  draw.  Grant  that  this  hour  of  sacred  things  may  stretch  out 
hands  of  continual  benediction  upon  us  amidst  the  storm  and  stress, 
the  noise  and  confusion  of  our  life,  to  lift  our  experience  out  of 
the  realm  of  chronology  and  to  make  us  feel  that  all  is  well.  May 
we  have  the  Christ  ever  before  us  and  be  glad  to  follow  His  leader- 
ship even  when  it  points  the  way  of  Calvary  and  the  crown  of 
thorns;  and  may  this  Christ-life,  here  memorialized,  become  im- 
mortal in  ours. 

The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  us  all.    Amen. 


Edward  Kidder  Graham:  Interpreter  of  Culture 
and  Democracy 

Professor  N.  W.  Walker 

"The  man  and  the  hour  have  met.  We  are  opening  a  new  chap- 
ter in  the  history  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina."  Thus 
spoke  Governor  Locke  Craig  at  the  inauguration  of  Edward  K. 
Graham  as  President  of  the  University  in  April,  1915.  After  four 
years  of  brilliant  service  that  saw  Governor  Craig's  prophecy  more 
than  fulfilled,  President  Graham  fell  on  sleep  October  26,  1918. 
And  it  Avas  Governor  Thomas  Walter  Bickett  who  said:  "There 
was  no  man  in  the  State  that  we  could  so  ill  afford  to  have  lost  as 
Dr.  Graham.  There  is  no  man  in  the  State  whose  place  will  be  so 
hard  to  fill.  The  whole  State  feels  that  it  has  suffered  an  irre- 
parable loss."  But  his  influence,  his  fame  as  an  aggressive  uni- 
versity executive,  and  his  sphere  of  activity  were  not  confined  to 
North  Carolina.  He  was  known,  and  honored,  and  loved  the 
country  over.  The  hundreds  of  editorial  tributes,  resolutions,  and 
messages  of  sympathy  that  poured  in  from  all  over  the  nation  and 
from  across  the  seas,  immediately  it  became  known  that  his  labors 
were  ended,  bore  spontaneous  and  eloquent  witness  to  this  fact. 
It  was  President  Wilson  who  wrote :  "I  have  heard  with  the  deepest 
sorrow  of  the  death  of  Doctor  Graham.  I  counted  him  among  my 
valued  personal  friends  not  only,  but  I  know  how  great  a  service 
he  was  rendering  the  University  and  the  State  and  how  sadly  he 
will  be  missed.  By  gift  and  character  alike  he  was  qualified  to 
play  a  distinguished  part  and  was  playing  it  to  the  admiration  of 
all  who  kncAv  him."  The  purpose  of  this  paper  is  to  sketch  briefly 
the  facts  of  his  life,  to  give  some  account  of  his  services,  and  to 
comment  on  some  of  his  outstanding  characteristics  as  I  knew  him. 

His  Life:  Birth,  Parentage,  and  Education 

Edward  K.  Graham  was  born  at  Charlotte,  N.  C,  October  11, 
1876.  He  was  the  son  of  Archibald  and  Elizabeth  Owen  (Barry) 
Graham.  After  completing  the  course  in  the  public  schools  of  his 
native  city  he  spent  a  year  at  the  Carolina  Military  Institute, 


26  Edward  Kiddek  Graham 

Charlotte,  before  entering  tlie  freshman  class  in  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  in  1894.  He  graduated  from  the  University  in 
1898,  second  in  his  class.  As  an  undergraduate  his  college  record 
was  distinguished  for  soundness  and  thoroughness  of  scholarship, 
clean  living,  many-sided  interests,  and  a  passion  for  fair  play  and 
square-dealing — a  record  that  was  prophetic  of  his  later  career 
and  the  great  service  he  was  to  render  in  the  years  to  come.  He 
was  a  brilliant  society  and  intercollegiate  debater,  an  incisive  and 
virile  editorial  writer  for  the  Tar  Heel  and  the  University  Maga- 
zine, secretary  of  the  Alpha  Theta  Phi  Society,  which  was  later 
absorbed  into  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  a  member  of  the  S.  A.  E.  Fra- 
ternity and  of  the  Gorgon's  Head,  and  winner  of  the  "Wiley  P.  Man- 
gum  medal  for  oratory  in  1898. 

One  of  his  classmates  has  given  this  thumb-nail  portrait  of  him 
as  an  undergraduate  student  at  the  University:  "As  a  student  he 
at  once  exhibited  a  thoroughness  in  every  task.  Yet  there  was 
nothing  pedantic  about  him.  He  never  strove  for  brilliancy.  Play- 
ing for  effect  was  utterly  foreign  to  him.  Breadth  of  mind,  almost 
uncanny  clearness  of  vision,  and  a  passion  of  fair  play  to  every  man 
characterized  him  sharply.  Real  humor,  fate  blessed  him  with. 
He  won  a  place  in  the  critical  young  democracy  of  undergraduate 
life  without  any  effort.  His  strength  with  his  fellows  appeared 
to  be  a  sort  of  cumulative  strength.  First,  his  immediate  friends 
discovered  that  he  had  a  way  of  being  'right'  on  questions  ever  so 
often.  Next,  his  class  began  to  remark  on  this  faculty.  Soon,  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty  (and  be  it  remarked  right  here  that  Graham 
never  'played  to  the  faculty')  would  refer  matters  to  him  fre- 
quently. In  the  Dialectic  Society,  where  the  students  from  the 
West  debated  in  a  more  or  less  parliamentary  way,  Graham  did 
not  by  any  means  assume  to  take  the  floor  on  every  subject  that 
came  up.  But  now  and  then  one  would  hear  on  the  campus  a 
chuckle  over  some  shaft  of  truth  frequently  barbed  with  wit  young 
Graham  had  unloosed  among  the  embryonic  parliamentarians.  He 
played  baseball  and  tennis  and  loafed  around  the  postoifice  and 
drug  store  about  on  an  average  with  his  associates.  Always  he 
took  a  real  interest  in  every  legitimate  activity  around  Chapel. 
Hill." 


UNrvTERsiTY  OP  IsToRTH  Cakolina  27 

His  Career  as  Educator 

After  graduation  he  taught  for  a  year  in  a  private  school  at 
Charlotte.  He  returned  to  the  University  in  1899  to  become  li- 
brarian and  instructor  in  English,  and  he  remained  in  the  service 
of  the  institution  from  then  until  the  day  of  his  death,  except  for 
two  years  (1901-02  and  1904-05)  spent,  on  leave,  in  graduate  study 
at  Columbia  University,  from  which  institution  he  received  the 
degree  of  M.A.  in  1902.  Time  and  again  calls  came  to  him  to  go 
to  other  fields  of  labor  and  to  other  institutions ;  but,  having  chosen 
teaching  as  a  profession,  and  having  cast  his  lot  with  the  institu- 
tion that  had  quickened  his  intellectual  and  spiritual  life  and  whose 
ideals  he  cherished  with  a  devotion  that  no  call  from  abroad  how- 
ever flattering  could  break,  he  declined  every  call  that  would  have 
taken  him  away  from  Chapel  Hill.  He  was  spending  his  life  and 
finding  his  inspiration  in  consecrated  and  devoted  service  to  his 
own  people  and  was  translating  his  splendid  ideals  into  realities 
here  at  home.  And,  be  it  said  to  their  everlasting  credit,  his  own 
people  were  coming  more  and  more  to  believe  in  him,  and  to  trust 
him,  and  to  appreciate  him,  and  to  follow  his  leadership. 

His  record  of  service  in  the  University  includes  the  following: 
Librarian,  1899-1900;  Instructor  in  English,  1899-1902;  Associate 
Professor  of  English,  1902-1904;  Professor  of  English,  1904-1913; 
Dean  of  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  1909-1913 ;  Acting  President, 
1913-1914;  President,  1914-1918. 

The  degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  Erskine  College 
in  1914 ;  by  Wake  Forest  College,  1915 ;  by  Lafayette  College,  1915 ; 
and  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  University 
of  the  South  in  1914. 

When  our  country  was  forced  into  the  world  war  he  entered 
whole-heartedly  into  her  service,  and  he  threw  the  University  and 
all  its  resources  into  the  great  cause  of  the  Nation.  No  man  that 
I  know  saw  with  such  clearness  of  vision,  at  the  very  outset  of  the 
conflict,  the  issues  involved  and  the  results  that  would  be  sure  to 
follow.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Educational  Committee  of 
the  Council  of  National  Defense,  a  member  of  the  International 
Committee  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. ;  a  trustee  of  the  American  University 
Union  in  Europe;  and  Regional  Director  of  the  Students'  Army 


28  Edward  Kiddee  Geaham 

Training  Corps  of  tlie  South  Atlantic  States.  No  doubt  the  exact- 
ing duties  of  the  last  named  position,  in  addition  to  the  already 
heavy  load  he  was  carrying,  made  demands  upon  his  strength  that 
constituted  one  of  the  contributing  causes  of  his  untimely  death. 

Marriage  and  Family  Life 

Mr.  Graham  was  happily  married  on  June  25,  1908,  to  Miss 
Susan  Williams  Moses,  of  Raleigh,  a  daughter  of  Edward  P.  Moses, 
one  of  the  State's  former  distinguished  school  superintendents  and 
educational  leaders.  Mrs.  Graham  died  on  December  22,  1916, 
leaving  one  son,  Edward  K.  Graham,  Jr.,  now  eight  years  of  age 
(January,  1919). 

Mrs.  Graham  was  a  graduate  of  the  University,  knew  its  history 
and  traditions,  and  was  inspired  by  its  spirit  of  service.  Gifted 
as  she  was  with  noble  qualities  of  mind  and  heart,  she  was  ad- 
mirably fitted  for  help-meet  of  her  distinguished  husband.  She 
entered  with  real  sympathy  into  his  life  and  shared  his  cherished 
ideals,  thus  furnishing  him  all  the  sympathy  and  encouragement 
he  could  desire  from  her.  Their  home  life  was  beautiful.  The 
President's  home  was,  indeed,  the  center  of  the  social  life  of  the 
University  and  the  village  of  Chapel  Hill. 

Gifted  Writer  and  Public  Speaker 

One  would  like  to  comment  at  length  upon  his  many-sided  inter- 
ests not  related  directly  to  his  administrative  duties,  his  inspiring 
power  as  a  teacher,  his  deeply  religious  nature,  his  rare  gifts  as  a 
writer  and  public  speaker,  but  to  do  so  would  carry  this  article  to 
too  great  length.  I  cannot  refrain,  however,  from  saying  he  was 
one  of  the  most  deeply  spiritual  men  I  have  ever  known ;  and  that 
as  an  essayist  and  public  speaker  he  possessed  the  rarest  charm 
and  grace,  subtlety  and  cogency  of  thought,  and  an  unusual  gift 
of  delightfully  refreshing  humor.  I  must  refer  to  a  few  of  his 
essays  and  published  addresses. 

Turn  to  the  South  Atlantic  Quarterly  for  April,  1908,  and  read 
his  essay  on  "Culture  and  Commercialism."  You  will  not  likely 
read  many  finer  essays  in  the  whole  realm  of  American  literature. 
"Culture,"  he  says,  "is  the  complete  art  of  life,  and  Democracy 


University  of  North  Carolina  29 

is  its  main  active  manifestation."  .  .  .  "Culture  is  truth 
alive."  .  .  .  "Culture  is  not  a  knowledge  of  the  creeds  of  re- 
ligion, art,  science,  or  literature.  As  American  civilization  confi- 
dently follows  it,  and  it  does  follow  it,  it  is  not  a  study  of  perfec- 
tion through  'coming  to  know' ;  it  is  the  development  of  the  spirit 
through  work — it  is  achievement  touched  by  fine  feeling."  Again 
he  says:  "Work  and  achievement  and  not  greed  are  the  basis  of 
commercialism,  just  as  the  basis  of  a  sound  Democracy  is  work; 
and  work  is  in  itself  a  spiritual  function  and  capable  of  developing 
the  spirit."  And  again,  "To  say  that  culture  in  its  broadest  and 
most  significant  sense  may  be  realized  through  material  achieve- 
ment is  as  axiomatic  as  to  say  that  progress  toward  perfection  may 
be  made  through  sincere  living."  .  .  .  "The  contributions  that 
America  has  made  to  civilization  bear  consistent  testimony  to  the 
belief  that  Democracy  and  Work  are  the  heart  of  its  civilization 
and  that  they  constitute  a  truly  cultural  principle." 

Or,  for  seeing  him  in  his  lighter  vein,  turn  to  Putnam's  and  the 
Reader  for  July,  1906,  and  read  "The  ISTecessary  Melancholy  of 
Bachelors."  I  must  not  neglect  to  mention  his  brilliant  short 
articles  on  books  and  current  literature  which  appeared  under  the 
head  of  "Familiar  Talks  About  Men  and  Books"  in  the  North 
Carolina  Review  (1909-1911).  Had  he  chosen  writing  as  a  pro- 
fession, there  is  no  doubt  that  he  would  have  written  his  name  high 
among  American  men  of  letters. 

Some  of  his  best  published  educational  addresses  are:  "The 
Function  of  the  State  University,"  his  inaugural  address,  pub- 
lished by  the  University;  "The  Teacher  and  Modern  Democracy," 
delivered  before  the  North  Carolina  Teachers'  Assembly  in  1909, 
published  in  the  Proceedings;  "Culture,  Agriculture,  and  Citizen- 
ship," delivered  at  Charlotte  in  1913,  and  published  in  the  North 
Carolina  High  School  Bulletin  for  January,  1914.  (It  was  in  this 
address  he  suggested  that  Community  Service  Week  be  set  apart 
by  the  Governor's  proclamation)  ;  "The  War-Time  Duty  of  Teach- 
ers," delivered  before  the  University  Summer  School  in  1917,  and 
published  in  the  North  Carolina  High  School  Bulletin  for  July, 
1917;  "Patriotism  and  the  Schools,"  delivered  before  the  North 
Carolina  Teachers'  Assembly  in  1917,  published  in  the  Proceed- 
ings ;  "The  American  University  and  The  New  Nationalism,"  pre- 


30  Edward  Kiddek  Gkaham 

pared  for  delivery  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  University  Commence- 
ment in  June,  1918,  published  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  University 
Circular  for  July,  1918. 

His  Educational  Ideals 

In  his  charming  essay  on  "Culture  and  Commercialism,"  re- 
ferred to  above,  he  arraigns  educational  institutions,  not  so  much 
for  perpetuating  the  conventional  academic  traditions  of  a  former 
age,  as  for  their  blindness,  their  inability  to  see  their  present 
opportunities,  and  their  unwillingness  to  turn 

"...    a  keen  untroubled  face 
Home  to  the  instant  need  of  things." 

These  are  his  words :  "That  educational  institutions,  the  conven- 
tional home  of  culture,  should  revere  the  past,  that  they  should 
retain  in  their  form  of  government  and  curricula  petrified  splint- 
ers of  medisevalism  is  natural ;  but  in  searching  the  past  for  things 
that  men  have  found  good  it  would  be  unfortunate  if  they  should 
allow  their  eyes  to  become  twisted  toward  retrospection,  if  they 
should  thereby  neglect  the  fine  task  of  making  better  the  things 
that  men  now  find  good," 

His  conception  of  the  function  of  a  state  university  as  set  .forth 
in  his  inaugural  address  in  April,  1915,  is  a  reechoing  bugle  call 
to  institutions  of  higher  learning  everywhere  challenging  them  to 
larger  service:  "The  state  university  is  the  instrument  of  democ- 
racy for  realizing  all  the  high  and  healthful  aspirations  of  the 
state.  .  .  .It  would  conceive  of  the  present  state  and  all  of 
its  practical  problems  as  the  field  of  its  service,  but  it  would  free 
the  term  service  from  the  narrowing  construction  of  immediate 
practice.  The  whole  function  of  education  is  to  make  straight  and 
clear  the  way  for  the  liberation  of  the  spirit  of  men  from  the 
tyranny  of  place  and  time,  not  by  running  away  from  the  world, 
but  by  mastering  it.  ,  .  .  It  would  emphasize  the  fact  that 
research  and  classical  culture  are  as  deeply  and  completely  service 
as  any  vocational  service;  but  it  would  consider  their  service  too 
precious  to  be  confined  in  cloisters  and  sufficiently  robust  to  inhabit 
the  walks  of  men." 


Univeesity  of  Worth  Carolina  31 

Space  and  time  will  not  permit  us  to  dwell  at  length  on  how 
successfully  he  was  working  this  ideal  into  the  life  of  the  Uni- 
versity through  internal  reorganization,  through  the  establishment 
of  new  departments  and  agencies  for  taking  the  University  to  the 
people,  through  the  expansion  of  the  extension  service,  and  in 
other  ways.  Under  such  leadership  no  wonder  that  the  means 
should  be  forthcoming  in  the  form  of  bequests  and  enlarged  ap- 
propriations; that  the  number  of  students  too  should  increase  as 
never  before.  The  resources  of  the  University  were  brought  into 
the  service  of  the  State  in  new  ways  of  serviceableness,  the  campus 
became  co-terminous  with  the  State ;  the  University  came  to  know 
the  State  better,  and  the  State  came  into  a  fuller  appreciation  of 
its  University. 

Some  Outstanding  Characteristics 

From  his  "mount  of  vision"  he  looked  upon  the  deeper  realities 
of  life  with  a  penetrating  insight  that  men  call  genius,  and  to  his 
fellows  and  co-workers  he  interpreted  those  realities  with  a  match- 
less skill  that  men  call  art.  I  never  saw  him  confused  over  a  diffi- 
cult and  complicated  situation,  or  puzzled  over  the  right  word  or 
phrase  to  use  in  interpreting  and  clarifying  a  complex  or  difficult 
problem.  "Oh  well,"  I  have  heard  him  say  a  hundred  times  in  his 
reassuring  manner,  "you  will  have  to  take  that  as  a  matter  of 
course ;  it's  part  of  the  game" ;  and  then,  with  what  so  often  seemed 
to  be  a  flash  of  inspiration,  he  would  come  at  the  matter  under 
consideration  from  another  angle,  and  in  his  own  characteristic 
and  inimitable  way,  briefly,  sometimes  in  a  word,  make  the  matter 
under  consideration  stand  out  in  bold  relief  as  it  had  never  been 
made  to  appear  before.  One  flash  of  his  genius  on  a  complex,  com- 
plicated, and  often  bewildering  problem  of  education,  of  college 
administration,  of  life  in  general,  was  more  illuminating  than  a 
thousand  labored  analyses  and  discussions  by  your  philosophers 
and  statesmen. 

And  the  patience  of  the  man !  Too  often  those  who  possess  his 
type  of  mind — if,  indeed,  it  were  not  a  type  all  his  own — but 
gifted  to  a  lesser  degree,  grow  impatient  with  those  who  hold  dif- 
ferent views  or  fail  to  understand.  I  never  saw  him  lose  patience 
in  any  such  manner.     No  other  man  that  I  have  ever  known  pos- 


32  Edward  Kidder  Graham 

sessed  greater  patience.  The  things  he  had  no  patience  with, 
though  he  seldom  manifested  it,  except  upon  rare  occasion,  were 
littleness  of  soul,  meanness  of  purpose,  and  insincerity.  And  these 
traits  in  others  he  did  not  care  to  dwell  upon  or  discuss.  HimseK 
the  soul  of  integrity,  and  preferring  always  to  see  the  better  side 
of  human  nature,  and  to  substitute  higher  ideals  and  better  motives 
for  lower  ones,  he  was  willing  to  give  freely  of  his  time  and 
strength  if  only  he  could  impart  to  others  something  of  his  own 
comprehension  and  clearness  of  vision.  His  was  a  positive  and 
constructive  philosophy  based  not  on  negative  values  and  negative 
action,  but  on  constructive  enterprise  and  initiative — a  philosophy 
that  would  in  time  supplant  the  outworn  creed,  the  lower  ideal,  the 
dead  timber.  It  ever  had  about  it  the  quality  of  the  warm,  life- 
giving  glow  of  spring,  rather  than  the  death-dealing  chill  of  winter. 

He  knew  the  limitations,  the  weaknesses,  the  shortcomings  of 
his  fellows  and  his  co-workers,  but  he  never  allowed  this  knowledge 
to  blind  him  to  their  virtues.  These  characteristics  were  the  very 
woof  of  his  big,  warm,  pulsing,  passionate  soul,  that  brought  him 
naturally  into  positions  of  leadership  and  trust  and  contributed 
to  his  achievements.  Such  souls  as  his  are  pregnant  with  sym- 
pathy, but  he  never  made  the  mistake  of  allowing  his  sympathies 
to  becloud  his  intellect,  nor  sentiment  to  sway  his  judgment.  To 
us  who  knew  him,  he  seemed  to  be  the  very  "incarnation  of  sanity 
and  clear  sense."  He  was  gifted  with  a  passion  for  diligently 
searching  out  the  truth  in  whatever  situation  confronted  him,  and 
though  his  interpretations  were  generally  sympathetic,  they  were 
always  intellectual. 

And  was  there  ever  a  truer  interpreter  of  Matthew  Arnold's 
gospel  of  "sweetness  of  light";  one  who  worked  more  passionately 
and  diligently  to  make  "reason  and  the  will  of  God  prevail  ?" 

What  a  tragedy  for  the  University  and  the  State  that  he  should 
be  called  from  his  labors  at  this  particular  time — at  this  critical 
time  when  the  tasks  of  reconstructing  and  readjusting  cur  educa- 
tional agencies  are  so  immense  and  so  complex  as  to  be  bewildering 
if  not  discouraging  to  men  of  less  vision  !  What  an  asset  his  sanity, 
his  clear  sense,  his  robust  optimism  would  have  been  in  the  trying 
days  just  ahead !  But  this  was  not  to  be.  Yet  there  is  this  con- 
soling thought :  though  his  physical  presence  is  no  longer  with  us. 


University  of  I^oeth  Cakolina  33 

who  can  doubt  that  his  immortal  spirit  still  abides  like  a  hallowed 
benediction ;  that  the  message  of  his  life  will  live  on  in  lives  made 
better  by  his  presence,  to  inspire  and  to  beckon  ever  forward ;  that 
his  work  will  endure!  To  the  people  of  the  State  he  taught — he 
interpreted — democracy,  culture,  efficient  citizenship;  and  he  un- 
loosed and  set  in  motion,  if  you  please,  potential  evolutionary  proc- 
esses that  will  go  on  and  on  working  themselves  out  in  the  life  of 
the  University  and  the  State.  His  ideals,  his  hopes,  his  dreams 
must  be  translated,  as  he  was  translating  them,  into  the  realities 
of  a  freer,  more  intelligent,  and  more  abundant  life.  To  those 
who  enjoyed  the  rare  privilege  of  laboring  with  him,  of  catching 
something  of  his  inspiration,  his  vision,  his  spirit  of  service,  the 
ever-unfinished  task  falls.  And  to  each  of  his  co-workers  and  asso- 
ciates comes  the  challenge  of  rededicating  himself  to  the  sublime 
task  of  helping  to  carry  forward  the  torch  which  now  passes  to 
other  hands. 


Resolutions  in  Honor  of  President  Graham 

THE  FACULTY  OF  THE  UNIYEKSITY 

The  Faculty  of  the  University  of  I^orth  Carolina  has  with  sor- 
row recorded  in  its  Journal  the  death  of  President  Edward  Kidder 
Graham, 

In  his  brief  term  of  service  he  created  in  the  University  vital 
forces  which  extended  beyond  the  limits  of  the  campus  to  every 
section  of  the  State,  and  which  made  his  career  as  an  educator  a 
brilliant  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  University. 

His  ideal  in  life  was  service,  first  for  his  University  and  his 
State,  and  then,  when  the  opportunity  arose,  for  the  nation.  In 
his  progress  towards  this  ideal  he  was  guided  by  a  clearness  of 
vision  which  revealed  to  him  the  splendid  possibilities  of  life  de- 
voted to  high  and  noble  aims. 

It  was  clearly  understood  by  all  who  came  within  the  sphere  of 
his  influence  that  he  thought  only  in  the  terms  of  the  high,  of  the 
good,  of  the  great.  And  yet,  conscious  as  he  must  have  been  of  the 
shortcomings  of  humanity,  he  never  failed  to  show  his  kindly 
interest  and  a  compelling  sympathy  which  gained  for  him  the 
ready  cooperation  of  all. 

In  the  present  crisis  of  the  nation  he  recognized  at  once  the  duty 
and  attitude  of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning.  It  was  his 
own  theme  of  service  for  the  world.  Quietly  and  without  ostenta- 
tion he  laid  his  plans  for  our  University.  But  the  wisdom  of  his 
measures  was  soon  widely  recognized,  and  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  sought  his  aid  and  counsel  in  training  the  young 
men  of  the  colleges  for  the  service  of  their  country. 

In  the  hour  of  need  the  Faculty  of  the  University  has  lost  a 
leader  and  a  friend.  In  its  own  sorrow  it  offers  to  those  upon  whom 
the  burden  of  grief  bears  most  heavily  its  respectful  sympathy, 
with  the  prayer  that  Heaven  may  grant  them  its  tenderest  bless- 
ings.— F.  P.  Venable,  Wm.  Cain,  H.  H.  Williams,  M.  C.  S. 
Noble,  W.  D.  Toy. 


University  of  North  Carolina  35 

THE  BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Whereas,  since  the  last  meeting  of  this  Board,  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  has  suffered  an  irreparable  loss  in  the  death  of  its 
late  President,  Edward  Kidder  Graham,  who  died  at  his  home  in 
Chapel  Hill,  October  26,  1918,  Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  a  page  in  the  minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  be 
especially  dedicated  to  his  memory,  on  which  shall  be  spread  the 
following  record  of  his  career  as  an  expression  of  the  sense  of  this 
Board  of  the  high  value  to  the  University  and  to  the  State  of 
North  Carolina  of  the  example  of  his  life,  services,  and  character : 

Edward  Kidder  Graham  was  born  in  Charlotte,  North  Carolina, 
October  11,  1876.  He  received  his  early  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  city,  and  entering  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  in  the  fall  of  1894^  was  graduated  from  that  institution 
with  its  highest  honors  in  1898.  Called  into  the  service  of  the 
University  in  the  fall  of  1899,  he  served  it  continuously  through- 
out the  remainder  of  his  life,  as  Librarian,  1899-1900;  Instructor 
in  English,  1900-1901;  Associate  Professor  of  English,  1901-1904; 
Professor  of  English,  1904-1913;  Dean  of  the  College  of  Liberal 
Arts,  1909-1913;  Acting  President,  1913-1914;  and  President, 
1914-1918.  His  career  at  the  University  as  student,  professor, 
and  executive  was  a  record  of  obligations  promptly  met,  duties 
efficiently  performed,  and  services  so  rendered  as  to  convince  his 
official  superiors  of  his  ever-increasing  fitness  for  ever-increasing 
responsibilities,  culminating  in  his  being  called  by  the  unanimous 
voice  of  this  Board  to  the  highest  position  within  its  gift. 

To  his  work  as  president,  he  brought  a  broad  and  liberal  concep- 
tion of  the  modern  state  university  as  "a  living  unity,  an  organism 
at  the  heart  of  the  democratic  state,  interpreting  its  life  not  by 
parts,  nor  by  a  summary  of  parts,  but  wholly — fusing  the  func- 
tions of  brain  and  heart  and  hand  under  the  power  of  the  immortal 
spirit  of  democracy  as  it  moves  in  present  American  life  to  the 
complete  realization  of  what  men  really  want,"  and  manifesting 
its  power  by  its  ability,  while  discarding  the  irrelevancies  of  the 
past  and  present,  to  focus,  fuse,  and  interpret  their  eternal  verities 
and  to  radiate  them  from  a  new  organic  center  of  culture  so  as 


36  Edward  Kidder  Graham 

"to  make  straight  and  clear  tlie  way  for  the  liberation  of  the  spirit 
of  men  from  the  tyranny  of  place  and  time,  not  by  running  away 
from  the  world,  but  by  mastering  it." 

This  conception  of  the  modern  state  university  in  the  modern 
democratic  state,  President  Graham  consistently  and  effectively 
carried  out  in  his  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  University 
of  J^orth  Carolina.  He  brought  the  University  to  think  of  its 
field  of  service  as  the  whole  State,  its  mission  as  the  upbuilding 
of  the  Commonwealth,  and  its  classrooms  as  the  strategic  points 
for  attacking  the  problem.  Under  the  stimulus  of  his  policies 
notable  progress  was  made  in  physical  equipment,  in  financial  re- 
sources, in  enrollment,  in  ideals  of  student  conduct  and  scholarship, 
and  in  strengthening  the  bonds  of  sympathy  and  understanding 
between  the  University  and  the  people  of  the  State.  On  the  one 
hand  he  taught  the  University  to  understand  "that  no  matter  how 
disinterested  and  universal  the  truth  it  seeks,  K'orth  Carolina  is 
the  immediate  medium  of  its  interpretation,"  and  on  the  other,  he 
taught  North  Carolina  to  think  of  the  University  as  "the  instru- 
ment of  democracy  for  realizing  all  the  high  and  healthful  aspira- 
tions of  the  State." 

In  his  relations  with  this  Board,  his  bearing  was  marked  by  un- 
failing patience  and  courtesy,  sympathetic  understanding,  and  dig- 
nified deference;  while  his  comprehensive  human  sympathies,  his 
clearness  of  vision,  and  his  unerring  judgment  inspired  its  members 
with  affection  for  his  person  and  confidence  in  his  leadership.  His 
life  was  an  inspiration  to  service;  his  character  an  example  for 
emulation. 

THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  TEACHERS'  ASSEMBLY 

Whereas,  an  All-wise  and  Omnipotent  Providence  has  seen  fit  to 
remove  from  our  midst  Dr.  Edward  K.  Graham,  President  of  the 
University  of  JSTorth  Carolina,  and 

Whereas,  in  the  death  of  President  Graham  our  State  suffers 
the  loss  of  one  of  its  foremost  citizens  and  one  of  its  most  trusted 
and  inspiring  leaders  in  the  promotion  of  civic  progress  and  right- 
eousness; and 

Whereas,  the  North  Carolina  Teachers'  Assembly  and  the  entire 


Univeksitt  of  North  Carolina  37 

teaching  profession  loses  one  of  its  most  gifted  members  and  un- 
compromising champions  of  popular  education,  Therefore,  he  it 

Resolved,  hj  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  North  Carolina 
Teachers'  Assembly: 

1.  That  while  our  hearts  are  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  per- 
sonal grief  because  of  his  untimely  death  we  are  deeply  grateful 
for  the  inspiring  example  of  his  noble  life  and  for  his  splendid 
service  to  the  State  and  Nation. 

2.  That  we  mourn  his  death  in  common  with  his  bereaved 
family,  his  associates,  and  the  great  institution  that  he  served  with 
such  fidelity  and  conspicuous  ability. 

3.  That  we  recall  with  renewed  appreciation  his  splendid  ideal 
for  the  North  Carolina  Teachers'  Assembly  when  he  declared: 
"The  Teachers'  Assembly  should  be  the  most  intellectual  gathering 
that  presents  itself  to  the  consideration  of  the  State;  it  should  be 
the  most  practically  patriotic ;  it  should  be  the  most  keenly  stirred 
by  educational  problems ;  ...  it  should  be  profoundly  united 
and  inspired  by  a  sense  of  service  to  the  immediate  needs  of  the 
State." 

4.  That  the  secretary  of  the  Teachers'  Assembly  be  instructed 
to  spread  these  resolutions  on  our  minutes  and  to  send  copies  to 
the  grief-stricken  family,  to  the  chairman  of  the  Faculty  of  the 
University,  to  The  Alumni  Review,  North  Carolina  Education, 
The  High  School  Journal,  Educational  News,  and  the  daily  papers 
of  the  State,  with  the  request  that  they  be  published. — E.  E.  Sams, 
Secretary. 

THE  GENEEAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Whereas,  on  October  26,  1918,  at  his  home  in  Chapel  Hill,  died 
Edward  Kidder  Graham,  President  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  by  the  Senate,  the  House  of  Representatives  concur- 
ring: 

That  the  following  statement  be  unanimously  adopted  and 
entered  upon  the  journals  of  both  the  Senate  and  the  House  of 
Representatives,  as  an  expression  of  the  appreciation  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  and  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina  of  the  life, 
service,  and  character  of  the  late  President  Graham : 


38  Edwabd  Kidder  Graham 

Born  in  the  city  of  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  October  11,  1876, 
sprung  from  distinguished  !N"orth  Carolina  ancestry,  educated  in 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  city,  prepared  for  his  life's  work 
at  the  University,  and  spending  his  life  in  the  service  of  North 
Carolina,  Edward  Kidder  Graham,  in  culture,  ideals,  and  charac- 
ter was  the  personification  of  all  that  is  best  in  the  life  of  this 
State.  Graduating  with  distinguished  honors  at  the  University 
of  North  Carolina  in  1898,  he  rose  by  successive  graduations  of 
efiicient  service  as  librarian,  instructor,  associate  professor,  pro- 
fessor, and  dean,  to  the  presidency  of  his  Alma  Mater.  As  presi- 
dent he  brought  to  the  University  and  to  the  State  new  and  inspir- 
ing conceptions  of  the  place  of  education  in  a  modern  democratic 
state.  He  thought  of  the  University  as  a  living  organism  function- 
ing at  the  heart  of  the  State,  interpreting  its  life  not  by  parts,  nor 
by  a  summary  of  parts,  but  wholly  and  completely,  "fusing  the 
functions  of  brain  and  heart  and  hand  under  the  power  of  the 
immortal  spirit  of  democracy  as  it  moves  in  present  American  life 
to  the  complete  realization  of  what  men  really  want."  With  this 
as  his  ideal,  by  substituting  for  old  negative  policies  of  external 
control  and  fearsome  prodding,  new  and  affirmative  policies  of  self- 
control  and  self-direction  under  the  inspiration  of  confident  and 
competent  leadership,  he  inspired  trustees,  faculty,  and  students 
alike  with  the  ideals  of  democracy  and  the  spirit  of  service;  by 
making  its  campus  co-extensive  with  the  boundaries  of  the  State, 
he  placed  the  resources  of  the  University  at  the  service  of  all  the 
people  of  North  Carolina ;  by  using  it  as  a  medium  for  interpreting 
the  ideals  of  culture,  service,  and  efficient  citizenship,  he  made  the 
University  "the  instrument  of  democracy  for  realizing  all  the  high 
and  healthful  aspirations  of  the  State."  Possessed  of  a  great  charm 
of  personality,  always  patient,  uniformly  courteous,  with  highly 
developed  intellectual  powers,  inspired  by  a  spirit  of  love,  sym- 
pathy, and  sacrifice  which  embraced  all  humanity,  he  was,  as 
President  "Wilson  said  of  him,  "by  gift  and  character  alike, 
qualified  to  play  a  distinguished  part,  and  was  playing  it  to  the 
admiration  of  all  who  knew  him."  To  the  members  of  the  General 
Assembly,  especially  to  those  who  had  been  associated  with  him  in 
public  service,  his  death  is  a  keen  personal  grief,  to  the  University, 
which  he  loved  so  passionately,  an  irreparable  loss,  and  to  his 
native  State  which  he  served  so  highly,  a  public  calamity. 


...-.Ti      -r   TTTiT*   A  1>"V 


PAMPHLET    BINDER 

^^—  Syracuse,    N.    Y. 
— — —    Stockton,    Calif. 


L   009   612 


AA       001324  6 


